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Hats off to N’Gog

Much has been commented on his goals-to-games ratio. It certainly does make him a more than effective back-up for Fernando Torres. But it seems that his work on the pitch often goes underestimated. I thought he played admirably against Bolton last week. I know he missed a sitter in the second-half, and was pilloried for it by the Liverpool fans.

One thing I find appealing about N’Gog is how he runs at opposition players. Usually we seem to run up to a defender, pass the ball backwards/square or expect someone to make a run around the outside. But N’Gog and perhaps Albert Riera as well are the only people who actually take on players and try dribbling on a regular basis. Of course sometimes they get dispossessed and look stupid, but on occasion they get by the player and all of a sudden we have an attacking opportunity. Those moments get defenders a bit edgy when they see him running at them. Another thing that often goes unnoticed is that he has very good close-control. There was a moment in the first-half today when he chested down a long-ball and turned the defender in one movement and went on an agile run down the left-hand side of the Liverpool flank. His final ball was poor but that was a sign of a very gifted footballer.

Particularly today, he was impressive. He needed to be counted on once we went down to 10-men to hold the ball up, draw fouls, and put the Everton defence on the back-foot. He did all of that to great acclaim from the home crowd, and that standing-ovation was fully deserved. It was perhaps something that Fernando Torres has been accused of not doing enough this season. The Frenchman/Cameroonian really did harry the smurfs when they had possession at the back, and in particular Yobo, had a tough time in keeping hold of him. They marked him quite tightly, which is to be expected when we play with only one man up-front but his turning ability and that close control I eluded to earlier came into play as he kept skipping away from them.

I feel the fans are quick to lump him in with Rafa’s ‘bad signings list,’ which is unfair on the lad (and the manager) to say the least. If he was at Arsenal people would be falling over themselves to heap praise on Wenger for cherry-picking another French youngster, and would be making every excuse imaginable if, for whatever reason, he wasn’t delivering the goods.

Either way, if you think that he isn’t up to it, or he can be something useful in the future, you have to agree that at the age of 20, the guy deserves some more time to show what he really can do. We’ve seen glimpses, and those glimpses are becoming a little bit more common with every appearance he gets which is a promising sign. A good workman-like performance against the smurfs show that he has the heart and the drive to really give in a shift if the team are under the cosh. I heard that he wants to play international football for Cameroon. Certainly he has a better chance of getting into the Cameroon side than he has of getting into the French national side (at this age anyway). Perhaps him getting an international call-up could do him some more good. After all, it can’t hurt having to play in the same time and maybe in the same strike-partnership as Samuel Eto’o can it? Anyway, that is in the future for the lad, and for now we could use some more of those performances like the one he put in today in the push for 4th-place and in Europe. Rest assured that if/when Fernando Torres gets injured again we know that we have someone who can can match him for pace and perhaps close-control. And the youngster is no mug when it comes to hitting the back of the net either.

i agree,
i have said for a while that he shows good prospects and he has quite a lot of skill for his age.
im not convinced he is a striker, i think he will be better as a forward for a striker as like you said he can hold up the ball and he see’s all around him

good player. He has improved immensely from what he was when he first signed. He needs to see the early pass sometimes but apart from that has a good all-round game, his decision making will improve with time.

I understand your emotions maithri, but i still belive Ngog was a little out of sorts..and ya i agree with “rc” that though babel didn’t do much i was still relieved with Babel on the pitch..Ngog has a promise about him..but i belive he should have spent a loan-spell before being thrown into the jungle..

{If someone really is our man of the moment though there are mainly two now..(i know i am digressing a bit but still..)
i) RAFA benitez
ii) Dirk the Power-Dutch KUYT

Really now with a squad where a lot of people would have tried a lot of things..his defence-dependent team structure has shown some arrogance (if not Character..with a lot of cards around )}

1 last thing about your reference to Arsenal..mate if you say Ngog would have been showered accolades..with the talent that Babel has (ya of late he had attitude problems,but however)..He would have been a Legend..As i said I love RAFA’s tactics of late ..but i would still have preferred Babel to Ngog.. Ngog has done well for his age..but this the big boys game and i still don’t see a match winner in Ngog..

Today our players defended well i must say on most occasions.. and thats why we emphasis on fire upfront..All were defending..
and Dirky scored brilliantly from a corner..
but had we gone behind even against run of play..the striker upfront would have been called for to make a difference..yet to see such from Ngog..
All said lets forget all this now and Enjoy our victory..and hope its the beginning of a lot more..

I am going to shower encomiums to Ngog he is improving game by game he has made the centre forward his own especially in the absence of Torres.Ngog is fast,quick,can dribble well,hold the ball up well and has won couple of penalty for the team..I m a little bit disappointed in Babel he came on as a sub yet he was tired already he couldnt hold the ball up well,he couldnt run to fetch the ball he couldnt dribble well i just hope he sorts himself out and get back to his best maybe the music he is into is taking toll on him i would advise Babel to stick to football squarely and put aside any distrations for now in order for him to get to his best

Really glad to see this write up on the youngster. You (maithri) really hit upon what I like so much about him. He has good control, can hold the ball up, and HE ISN’T AFRAID TO TAKE DEFENDERS ON! His control off of his chest is just amazing. I can’t believe some of the balls he controls.
I think a lot of criticism comes from the fact that our offense is so poor right now. Face it, we are not getting many chances to score. The reason we are successful right now is because our defense has been so much better. Once our offense starts syncing up better I feel Ngog will show that he is a capable forward.
As for Babel coming on… I am always excited to see him take the pitch. I always tell myself this will be the one where he shows us what he can do (like that brief instant we saw against Lyon). I was extremely disappointed again. He first touch was quite poor. Admittedly he didn’t have much support but he was very ineffective at holding the ball up or doing much of anything.

I believe it was the last time Babel played I didn’t realize he had come on. Now, we don’t have many black on our team and I thought it was Ngog and I thought to myself “WTF, why is Ngog’s touch and dribbling so poor now. His control seemed so much better.” Turns out… it was Babel. I know Babel could be a quality player and I wouldn’t want to see him go but he hasn’t taken advantage of his opportunities. Ngog always impressed me when he came on as a sub.